Graham Charlton says, “Earlier this year, I wrote a post looking at some of the best ecommerce sites around, picking out aspects of these sites that others could learn from.  As the vast majority were B2C, some commentors challenged me to find similarly good examples of B2B ecommerce sites. I’ve asked the Econsultancy team, found a few myself, and here we are. Some are listed because they offer a great all round experience, others because they do a particular thing very well (navigation, copywriting, and so on)”. Which B2B ecommerce sites are getting it right? Here’s... [...]

Ian McCaig says, “Unlocking international or cross-border sales has never been as lucrative as it is today. Historically, shipping costs, lack of trust and limited information were factors in preventing growth in trade but now cross-border shopping is estimated to be worth $105bn. While this is a huge growth area for ecommerce businesses, several obstacles still prevent online customers from comfortably venturing outside their borders and buying from international retailers. Challenges often involve language or currency difficulties, logistics, restrictive local laws, or unclear product... [...]

Shane Jones says, “While ecommerce has come a long way in recent years, it still has a long way to go. One of the main problems with online shopping is that a certain amount of guesswork is always required before making a purchase. Customers are never quite sure about the quality of an item, since they can’t touch it like they would when shopping in person. Instead, they are forced to rely on small photos and glib product descriptions”. The five words that don’t belong in ecommerce customer service ‘Econsultancy’ Blog  [...]

Sam Oakley says, “Five years ago if you were a brand and you wanted to make a video, you went to a video agency, begged them to make it more viral than h5n1 and paid through the nose for the privilege. If you wanted an infographic you went to a design agency, if you wanted to write editorial you went to a PR agency etc… Your content creation was almost completely outsourced and, unless you had a reasonably serious budget, a great content marketing campaign was probably beyond you. That couldn’t be further from the truth today, brands have a wealth of tools that allow them to create... [...]

David Moth says, “Experiential marketing, what is it good for? The premise is to create a closer bond between the consumer and the brand by immersing them in a fun and memorable experience. If a brand event stirs genuine positive emotions within people then they are more likely to associate those emotions with that brand, which is more effective than just showing them a Facebook ad or something. Occasionally the line blurs between experiential marketing and a straightforward PR stunt, but I’m not here to waste time quibbling over definitions”. 10 very cool examples of experiential... [...]

Jon Myers says, “With all media we see seasonal shifts in effectiveness, which is why it’s important for advertisers to be aware of seasonality across media and optimise around it.  As newer advertising platforms like Facebook develop and evolve we start to get a sense of some of the seasonal factors at play. As such, we thought we’d dig into seasonality on the platform, and here’s what we found”. Facebook advertising seasonality: what’s the story? ‘Econsultancy’ Blog  [...]

Ben Davis says, “Great native advertising cannot be automated. To think about selling on a CPM basis and defining native advertising as simply a question of format, rather than content, is wrong. The value of a native ad campaign resides in the quality of the content, therefore the engagement with the piece – and that’s more than just a click, it’s time on page and a share count (and potentially an associated action). At the IAB Content Conference, I listened to a number of speakers with interesting angles on native advertising”. Native advertising: The emperor’s... [...]

Parry Malm says, “We’ve all done it – perhaps early in the morning when putting off waking up, or perhaps when at work putting off… erm… work. Maybe you won’t admit it to your friends, but we’ve all done it. It’s nothing to be embarrassed about. It’s ok. I do it too. Maybe it’s a “wisdom of the crowds” thing, or a “wikinomics” thing. Or maybe just a lazy way to make sense of this crazy online world in which we live. In this post, I undertake some serious investigative online journalism to find out what the internet actually thinks about the internet, using... [...]

Kelvin Newman says, “Recruiting the right talent for your team is tricky no matter what industry you’re in, but people working insearch marketing face some very particular challenges. There aren’t a lot of experienced and talented people to go around. Equally, experience doesn’t always correlate with talent. There are a lot of excellent search marketers with only a few years experience and others who’ve done the years but don’t have the skills. Lots of people are responding to this by taking on trainees, this can work a treat but does eat into one of your most precious... [...]

Glen Hartman says, “Consumer concern about data privacy has shifted over the past decade. More than ten years ago, consumers were concerned when companies such as Amazon analyzed their data to provide them with a recommended list of products they may be interested in based on their purchase habits. Fast forwarding to today, many consumers now expect companies to mine their data through the use of analytics to provide them with relevant offers and products to improve their shopping experience”. Spotlight on data privacy: three steps to building consumer trust ‘Econsultancy’... [...]